Why are trekkers frequently missing in Mardi Himal Trek?

Mardi Himal Trek is one of the popular trekking trail among both national & international trekkers. Majestic landscapes and breathtaking mountain views within 4 to 6 days trek has attracted thousands of trekkers annually. But safety issue of trekkers has again aroused because of recent incident of a trekker missing.

On December 30, 2023, a Swedish citizen Michael Liu Blomberg, aged 20, headed to Mardi Himal Base Camp (4500 mt.) after spending a night at Mystic Mountain guest house at Mardi High Camp 3550 mt but he hadn't returned back till date and he is  still missing.
Search operations had been carried out by local government, Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) and Mardi Hotel Management committee but till date he is missing.

Swedish citizen Michael Liu who was missing since December 30, 2023

As per the further informations gathered, he had continued Mardi Himal trek after successfully completing Manaslu trek and Annapurna Circuit trek.  After completing Manaslu trek with guide (as guide is mandatory in Manaslu trek) he had trekked solo within Annapurna region.

Missing notice after mishap of Michael 

In Fact this wasn't the first mishap in the Mardi trekking route. Since 2017 A.D. five trekkers have been missing in the Mardi trekking route and they are still unknown.

Back in 2017 October 16, an Israeli guy who was heading to Mardi Base Camp from Mardi View Point never returned back. Local tea shop owner aka Chiya Kaka recalled that moment, "I still remember he had a cup of tea at my tea shop at 4000 metres and headed to Base Camp but he never returned back.' Search operations were carried afterward but no sign and symptoms of his presence were found. Till date he is still unknown."

Same incident had happened with a Dutch lady named Corrie in 2018 A.D. It wasn't her first visit in Nepal. 27 years back she was here in Nepal with her mom and they together did Mustang trek. From that trek she was strongly impressed and attached with the beauty of Nepal and hospitality of Nepalese. So, she came to Kathmandu, Nepal on 7th february, 2018 A.D. for a month long vacation in Nepal.

She got the ACAP permit with intention of trekking to ABC (Annapurna Base Camp) but after she changed her plan after doing entry at entry point Birethanti, Kaski on 13th february. Instead of heading to ABC, she trekked to Ghorepani, Poonhill and further continued to Mardi Himal trek. On 19th February, she stayed in Trekkers Paradise Inn and next day headed to Mardi Base Camp and returned back to High Camp. As the rooms in the previous guest house where she had stayed was full, she had shifted to the nearby Machhapuchhre Guest House.

She had forwarded some photos of early morning sunrise, selfies from Base Camp and picturesque mountains photos to her daughter Rein. She had forwarded text to her daughter, 'I was above the mountains. While descending from the Base Camp it was a bit tough. The weather is a bit misty, it seems like there will be a fall of hailstone. I came back to the guest house at High Camp. Tomorrow the other trekkers will be following the same trail I followed today.'
Next day she left High Camp and descended down but she never arrived at Pokhara.

Corrie at Mardi Himal Base Camp who got out of connection from 21st February, 2018. Photo :- Setopati

In prior she had informed daughter that she would be joining Vipassana meditation course at Pokhara. So, she will be out of connection for two weeks. Rein thought her mother had already arrived in Pokhara and joined the course but she got mail from the meditation centre on 9th April stating that her mom hasn't yet joined the meditation course and she is out of reach. In fact she has been missing since weeks.

She circulated this message to her grandmother Jen. They came together in Nepal in search of Corrie. They tried in every possible way to search Corrie but they needed to return back empty handed. Every year Jen visits Nepal and trek to Mardi Himal in remembrance of her daughter.

Jen, mother of Corrie who visit every year in remembrance of her daughter Kori. Photo :- Setopati 

 
Similarly in 2019, a Polish guy was missing from the trail. In 2023, September tea shop owner of Mardi Base Camp Kalu Gautam got out of connection. He was the local inhabitant of nearby village, Sidhing. Locals said, like him, no one had explored each and every corner of Mardi Himal premises. He had spent many years as a shepherd at the lap of Mardi & in his last days he had started a tea house at Mardi Base Camp.

These are the records of trekkers and a local missing from the last 7 years. Along with this data, some had lost their life on the trail while many were rescued alive.

Sudip Gautam :- who flourished Mardi Himal Trek and took his last breathe in Mardi

Mardi Himal trek and Sudip Gautam, they both are synonymous to each other. Pioneer of Mardi Himal trek, Sudip Gautam was born on the lap of Mardi Himal 36 years ago in Sidhing village. He had spent most of his childhood with his father at Mardi High Camp as his father was herder. He was enchanted by the beauty of the Himalayas when he was there with his father. After 1980, slowly camping treks flourished in Mardi periphery.There were no tea houses on the trail, only the herders with their animals. The foreign trekkers used to ask for coca cola, snickers, etc with the herders at High Camp. How could these items be possible with the herders?

Late Sudip Gautam, Pioneer of Mardi Himal tourism 

Later Sudip and his father carried such items all the way from Hemja to High Camp as there was demand from the trekkers in Mardi High Camp. Slowly they converted animal sheds into small tea houses made up of bamboo layers.

With time, the number of trekkers rose. And he came up with an idea to establish a well managed tea house at Mardi High Camp. When he used to share this idea with his relatives and friends, they used to make fun of him. No one ever thought of investing millions of rupees there in a remote mountain. But he never gave up. He borrowed some loan to start up a tea house of 8 rooms. Slowly with time, the number of tea houses increased with the rise in the number of trekkers.

September 30, 2023 was Black Day for Mardi Himal Tourism. Pioneer of Mardi Himal Tourism, Sudip Gautam fell from the cliff below Mardi View Point when he was there to fix the water pipes. Before he was taken to hospital in a helicopter he was declared dead.

Why so many incidents occured ?

Mardi Himal trek being an easily accessible and short & sweet trek, many trekkers are attracted to this trek but rough terrain, bad weather and altitude sickness could result in many incidents. Some main reasons are described as :-

i. Trekking without experienced guides and assistants :
Most of the mishaps seems to result among Free Individual Trekkers (FIT) who are travelling alone. Even the Government of Nepal had made guide compulsory for trekking in Nepal since April 1st, 2023 but it wasn't implemented strictly. Still trekkers are continuing trekking without guides/porters. All 5 missing trekkers till date were trekking on their own . Even solo trekking in high mountains should be highly discouraged.
The Government of Nepal must strictly apply guide compulsion policy during trekking with some flexibility. Accordingly there should be management of well experienced, well equipped and skilled trekking guides and porters.

 
2. Ignorance and overconfident :-
"We spend most of the year with snow in Europe, so I don't worry about the snow and cold in the mountains," a trekker was sharing his experience back from home. There is a huge difference between the cold at 200 metre elevation in Europe and 4500 metre in high mountains. High elevation, extreme weather conditions and rough terrain in high mountains can result in challenging the trek. In fact we shouldn't be overconfident and never underestimate the power of nature.

Amrit Tamang, owner of Low Camp Guest House, Low Camp shares the reality of Nepali trekkers as, "In fact Nepali trekkers don't come to the Himalayas for trekking. Gaining more than thousand meter elevation in single day trekking hrs in a day make them more susceptible to altitude sickness. Normally it takes 4-5 days to complete this trek but Nepali trekkers manage it within 2-3 days. Trekking from early morning to late night for more than 10 hours a day might result in mishap on the trail."

3. Insufficient information boards & signs :-
Instantly changing weather, extreme terrains and high elevations are key factors for challenging Mardi Himal trek. At the entry points of trek, such required information and complexity within the trek should be briefly provided by the ACAP staff but still it is lacking. In comparison to past years, there is quite an upgrade in the trekking trails with signs boards but still those are insufficient for the safety of trekkers. There are many misleading and confusing trails on the way. In prior, trekkers should be better known with the possibilities of incidents that could happen choosing those trails.

4. Impracticable competition of ownership among stakeholders :-
Mardi Himal trekking trail lies with ACAP. So, supervision, control and inspection of trekkers, tea houses and hotels all lied before within the ACAP's power but after the local election of 2017 A.D., the local government tried to grab the power that ACAP was holding before. So, there arose ownership disputes among them and in reality trekkers and hotel owners are in real injustice. So, in time there should be clear agreement between those stakeholders regarding the ownership and management of Mardi Himal trekking route.

Words from Raj Kumar Tamang, President of Mardi Himal Hotel Management Committee (MHHMC) :-
Frequent mishaps of trekkers in Mardi Himal trek again created a huge coordination gap among local government, ACAP and MHHMC. There was no coordination among these three authorities for search, rescue and safety of trekkers. Even in the recent incident of a Swedish guy, these three authorities carried out search operations separately. Joint operations could be more effective, successful and worthy but there lies a huge communication and coordination gap among three of them.
Trekkers on the trail will be out of connection as there will be no mobile network and internet access while trekking on the trail. As soon as the National Electricity line will be connected till Mardi High Camp, this issue will be somehow solved. Whenever the trekkers are faced with the complexities, they could get an easy connection with the authorities which can ease search and rescue operations.

Raj Kumar Tamang, President of Mardi Himal Hotel Management Committee

Not only does ACAP keep the record of trekkers, every tea house and guest houses on the trail should record the entry and exit of trekkers after spending a night in their respective tea houses. It will an easy to get the actual data of entry and exit of trekkers as well as help in rescue and search operations if something goes wrong.

In summary, frequent mishaps on Mardi Himal trekking trails doesn't spread positive messages among trekkers worldwide. It could somehow reduce the flow of trekkers on this trail. So, all respective authorities and stakeholders should conjointly work for the safety and security of the trekkers.